Make them understand that war is counterproductive

Not a good idea:

Hamas legislator Ismail al-Ashkar claimed that Israel and the US were continuing to arm forces loyal to Abbas and his Fatah faction. He said that in recent weeks large shipments of weapons had entered the Gaza Strip with the hope that they would be used by Fatah against Hamas.

The Israelis and Americans, he added, have decided to fight Hamas by using Palestinian puppets. “The weapons that they are sending to the Gaza Strip are for use against Palestinians, not the occupation,” he said. — Khaled Abu Toameh, Jerusalem Post

Well, of course. But it’s still a lousy idea. Israel and the US cannot succeed in propping up one faction or another, because their help automatically ensures that there won’t be popular support for ‘their’ faction. All they can do is pump more arms into the strip, as if there aren’t already several weapons for every man, woman and child.

Let the Palestinians fight it out. Just make it clear that Israel will retaliate — disproportionally — against terrorism, no matter who perpetrates it. Ultimately, the solution will lie in making whatever leadership the Palestinians end up with understand that war against Israel is counterproductive.

This entry was posted on Saturday, April 7th, 2007 at 9:21 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.Both comments and pings are currently closed.